Page 18 of The Jilted Lovers Club
He doesn’t speak for an eternity. Then he lets out a heavy breath.
“Was it a twenty-pound wagyu wrapped in gold foil?”
I’m going to be fired. I just know it.
But maybe that isn’t so bad. I can just go home, pack up my things, and move back in with my parents while I try to figure out what I’m doing with my life.
Just the thought of living with my mother again makes me shudder.
“No, not that. I got carried away.” My stomach sours at the thought of all those Manhattans, not to mention my coming admission. “Let’s just say that one thing led to another, and I told everyone that dinner was on me.”
“Everyone. As in…”
“As in everyone that was dining out last night at Charred.”
More silence. Then a low chuckle.
I don’t know what’s scarier. Alexander not saying a word, or Alexander feigning amusement before he rakes me over the coals. To be fair, he’s never said one stern word to me. He’s never had the reason—before today, that is. But I walked in on him once when he was in the middle of a meeting, his finger jabbing the chest of some guy in a business suit while he read him the riot act. I saw the way his employees sucked up to him, and rushed to meet his needs.
He may be nice to me, but it’s only because I haven’t fucked up.
Until now. Until I’ve pissed him off so bad, all he can do is laugh before he rips me a new one.
“Brilliant,” he says.
My chest tightens. “Brilliant, as in, you can’t believe you hired an idiot like me?”
“Come on sweetheart, give yourself a little more credit. Or at least, give me some credit. I hired you because you think outside the box, and obviously that’s what you’re doing now.” He laughs again. “It’s not easy connecting with people in a small town.”
“You have no idea,” I mutter.
“But treating them right off the bat is a clever move. It gets them to trust you, maybe even welcome you, and by extension, it will get them to welcome Timeless when it’s up and running. I like your style.”
I’m about to tell him otherwise, but the sound of the door closing behind me almost makes me drop the phone. I whip around to see Ashton re-locking the door while Lottie sits in her stroller next to him. When he turns around, he has a sheepish look on his face while holding up the keys that let him in.
Keys he shouldn’t have.
“Listen, I need to go,” I say, my eyes never leaving Ashton’s.
“I get it. Busy at work, that’s my Jordy. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. I should have the managementteam in place soon. I want you and me to be the leads on this project, but we can start including them in these conversations once they’re up and running.”
“I look forward to it.”
Once I hang up, I glare at Ashton.
“What? This town is not only in each other’s business, but you all have keys to each other’s businesses as well?”
“Nope. Just me and you.” He twists the key off the ring, then holds it out to me. I stride over and snatch it out of his hand.
“And why would you have a key?”
It dawns on me as soon as the words leave my mouth.
“It was your store.”
“It was my store,” he agrees. “Well, it’s actually Bob and Bec’s store. But I managed it until the end.”
It’s then that I remember my conversation with Alexander yesterday. The names he said.
